Every year in March the Puerto Rican Bar Association holds a celebration for Women’s History Month and honors one outstanding woman from the judiciary, private practice, public practice, and law school branches. The PRBA seeks to embrace, support, and celebrate the invaluable and integral part Hispanic women play within the legal field. This year, I was chosen to be the law student honoree alongside a partner from Cleary Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP, a professor from St. John’s University School of Law, and a Justice from the Supreme Court of Kings County, just to name a few.

Undergraduate College: Berklee College of Music, Bachelors of Music in Jazz Composition.

Program Affiliations: I was affiliated with the Berklee Performance Center where I was a stage crew supervisor.

Honors: After Berklee I enlisted in the Navy Band where I performed throughout the northeast region on stage, in public schools, for veterans, and on national television

What type of law do you want to practice? What made you intersted in this field of law?: As a composer and performer, I am very interested in how intellectual property law is developing.

What courses have been your favorite and why? Any favorite teachers?: With such great professors, it's hard not love all the courses! However, Civil Procedure reminds me of a chess match and I like Chess.

Jobs During Law School: Legal intern at Epic Games, Inc., a video game company that produces the Unreal Engine as well as several notable video game titles. I drafted contracts for work with game designers, wrote licenses to the engine, different types of nondisclosure agreements, including those for compliance with Microsoft and Sony to gain access to console code, worked on trademark registration (and even disputes!). Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress: I got to curate a special collection of manuscripts in the Middle Eastern department called "The Letters from Afghanistan Project." DataONE Steering Committee Member, Member of the Society of American Archivists (currently). Teach for America Corps Member

Program affiliations: I am currently on the Public Law Advocacy Week Planning Committee, and I have organized a panel on the specific housing challenges faced by marginalized populations in New York City. I have also volunteered with the Courtroom Advocates Project, which allows law students to assist domestic violence victims in obtaining orders of protection in Family Court. I am part of the Public Service Scholars Program and on the Executive Board of Cardozo’s Leadership Association of Women.

Jobs During law school: Before coming to Cardozo, I worked as a paralegal in the Rackets Bureau at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. I have continued working there on a more limited basis during my 1L year.

Program affiliations: Stern School of Business, B.S. in Finance and B.S./M.S. in Accounting

Honors: Magna Cum Laude

What type of law do you want to practice? What made you interested in this field of law?: Bankruptcy & Restructuring. As long as I can remember, I've always been passionate about economics. That's what drew me to Stern School of Business in the first place. After having worked for a couple of years in business, I've realized I wanted to add a more human element into what I do, which led me to law school. I hope to combine the two and work with clients in distressed debt investing.

Program affiliations: I am currently involved in planning our Public Law Advocacy Week and am very excited to have put together a panel on the School to Prison Pipeline and the way that it has affected so many youths in our city. I am also involved with the Public Service Auction and happy to have had the opportunity to help Cardozo students get stipends for public service related work that they will be doing this upcoming summer. I am also a member of the Cardozo’s Leadership Association of Women Executive Board, a member of the Public Service Scholars Program, and a volunteer with the Courtroom Advocates Project.

Internships: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Office of Finance

Groups/Activities: Student Bar Association, Finance Committee Member and Senator-At-Large, Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance Scholar, Black Law Student Association Member and Business Law Society Outreach Committee Member

Reginald was born and raised in the small city of Paducah, Kentucky, attended college at the age of 15 and graduated from the University of Chicago in 2004. Upon obtaining a bachelor’s degree in political science, Reginald accepted admission to Teach for America and taught 5th grade students in Miami, Florida for two years before transitioning to New York City to join KIPP, the largest charter school network in the United States.